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Cabo Yachts, Inc.

Reviews & Articles Cabo Yachts, Inc.


A Boatload of Opportunity

Victor Valley Daily Press - March 19, 2001
By William Finn Bennet

ADELANTO - More than 30 yachts, some bigger than a city bus, are lined up along Cabo Yacht's warehouse floor in various stages of completion. In the water they're one thing, but on dry land towering overhead - they seem eerily oversized and out of place. The whir of electric, motors and the banging noises echo off the metal walls as workers go about their tasks.

It's an anomaly in the High Desert. Cabo Yachts is also one of the region's biggest success stories. The company has grown from a one-employee shop with revenues of $200,000 in 1991 to a 35O employee operation with $44 million in sales today. One of Cabo's owners credits much of that success to the skills of his workers - skills they learned in house.

"I have always believed we are a people company," Howarth says. " We don't build these boats with machines - we build them with people." And how.The smaller boats require 3,500 man hours to produce. The largest boats take up to 8,000 man hours. Rapid growth and the kind of specialized talents it takes to build a state-of-the-art yacht quickly taught the company that training and promoting from within were the way to go.

As a result, many employees who started off in entry-level, unskilled jobs went on to become highly skilled craftsmen and even land supervisory positions with the company.

Take plant supervisor George Carmona, 31. He started with the company in the early days, pushing a broom. He worked his way up in a variety of positions at the company, including hardware, woodworking, stockroom, mechanical, plumbing. Today, he is supervisor of the entire manufacturing process. "A lot of employees start off and don't know a thing about boats," Howarth said. "But, if we see someone come in here who has some talents and some ambition, the sky is the limit. It's up to them. "Ernie Carmona, no relation to George Carmona, is a shy, soft spoken 35-year-old, who arrived at Cabo nine years ago from Mexico. He could speak almost no English. He started off as a welder, and today is the foreman of the engine deúpartment. He manages a crew of eight.

" I feel great," Carmona said. "Mike gave me the best opportunity of my life. I moved here from Mexico, where life was very hard. When someone like Mike gives us a chance, we have to take advantage of it.

" Manufacturing a yacht is no simple process. It involves woodworking, a machine shop, upholstery fabrication, an electrical department, a plumbing department, engine installation, fiberglass fabrication, engineering and detailing. Each of these departments requires specialized skills, and that's where the opportunities for advancement lie.

Howarth got his start in a high school woodworking class. He built a small sailboat that won anOrange County building competition. He got his first job making boats in the late'60s, making $2 an hour with Harbor Yachts in Westminster. Later, he went to work at Pacific Troller, where he met Henry Mohrschladt - the man who would become his business partner.

They founded a. sailboat manufacturing company together in 1975. Pacific Seacraft later won an award from Fortune Magazine as one of the 100 companies in the country building the best made products. They sold the business in the late 1980s and headed to Adelanto, where land was cheap and the local government had a can-do attitude."We were impressed with Adelanto's industrial park and there was affordable housing for our employees," Howarth said.

Success has been a natural process for the company. Besides its phenomenal growth, the company has won some impressive awards: the U.S. Small Business Administration's " Exporter of the year" award in 1998, Ernst & Young's " Entrepreneurs of the Year," in 1999, and Business Week magazine picked the company as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. To show Cabo's appreciation for employees' hard work and loyalty, the company puts on a monthly barbecue outside the warehouse. Once a year, it also sends each worker on a fishing trip on the boat it keeps in either Cabo San Lucas or Los Angeles. The trips have a double benefit, Howarth said. They give some rest and relaxation, but also help them understand the importance of making a quality product. "Being out at sea on a boat people begin to realize we have to build our boats strong and reliable Howarth said.

" When your out at sea and something goes wrong you can't just pull over to the side of the road." We try to build the absolute best boat on the market," Howarth said " There is always a market for the best. "  Once boats are ready, Cabo ships them to dealers throughout the United States and around the world. Howarth estimates 10 percent his business is in exports, to countries as diverse as Greece, Kenya, Mexico and Italy.

Seven-year employee Steve Devoll, 34, also worked his way up at Cabo. He started as an entry level machinist and today is foreman of the machine shop, with 11 employees under his supervision. Steve held a number of jobs before he started at Cabo. " When you go from job to job being appreciated, and the find a place where you are home," Devoll said. " It feels great to be in a company where you know you are needed, that what you do is appreciated. That's what it’s all about."